So the other day we left a vendor we’d used for years. Without telling us, or asking our consent, over the years they’d raised our pricing from $300 a month to $1000 a month. For the same usage.
We moved to another vendor really for non-economic reasons. They’d never once checked in with us until we cancelled.
They then offered to match any pricing, or to move us to a $199 /month tier we didn’t even know about.
Is leaving, or threatening to leave, the only way to get a decent deal at renewal time these days? I honestly think so.
It’s at least something to reflect on as leaders. We now dread any call with Customer Success or anyone we don’t know at our SaaS vendors. They are always about getting us to pay more. They are never about making us more successful.
Back in the day, as a SaaS CEO, I didn’t allow anyone in sales to be involved in renewals. I had finance handle it, because I thought 98 times out of 100, that took any pressure out of it. I found that worked. Upsells IMHO shouldn’t happen at renewal time, a time of stress and pressure. They should happen organically by doing a great job and introducing new products.
Maybe I’m old fashioned.
But at least reflect on if your renewal behavior is leading to inadvertent churn.
A related post here:
image from here
